Dividing-strip for cementitious floors



LOUIS DEL TURBO.

mvmme STRIP FOR CEMENTITIOUS nouns.

APPLICA'HON FiLED SEPT. 16, 1919.

Patented Feb. 15,1921.

ORNEY.

LOUI'S DEL TURCO, F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

DIVIDING-S'IRIP FOB. OEMENTITIOUS FLOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15. 1921.

Application filed September 16, 1919. Serial No. 324,165.

7 To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS DEL T once, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of-Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dividing-Strips for .Cementitious Floors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a strip that is used in makin terrazzo and similar floors, being a dividing strip for insertion in a floor not only to define the pattern of the floor, but to localize cracking, if any occurs.

In laying terrazzo floors it has been customary, after the under bed has been placed on the foundation, to put the wearing surface or top layer in squares or other forms or patterns, these being laid alternately; that is, some of the squares have been laid out or defined by wooden or similar edges and then laid, and after they are set, the edges were removed and the-intervening squares laid. This required considerable time and was expensive and inconvenient, particularly where it was a repair job in a busy place, such as an ofiice or public building corridor.

urthermore, it has been usual to place surface joints on the floor where the squares abut, in an effort to localize cracks to these joints, but in practice it has been found that cracks originate well below the surface, usually in the under bed or foundation, and are transmitted then to the top, and the cracks are therefore not controlled and in no sense confined to the joints.

In m improved strip the joint is carried well b ow the surface and cracks are much more frequently localized and confined to these points than when these strips are not used. In using my stri it is placed in the under bed when the un er bed is wet, and it remains there, and after the under bed is set these strips project from it and the whole top or surface layer in terrazzo or similar floors can be placed on the under bed and the whole floor finished at the same time, and it sets and dries in its entirety as a floor, thus saving considerable time and also consider able expense of labor.

The invention also relates to the method of laying flooring in which strips as described hereinabove are em loyed when the under bed is laid and be ore it sets, and

which form ga es and also dividing strips which are in p ace when the surface layer is applied.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a. plan of a fioor, showing the manner of use of the dividing strips. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one end of a strip. Fig. 3 is a section through a part of a floor, showing the strip in position, and Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a modified form of strip as adapted for a different type of floor.

The device consists of a base strip 10. which can be made of various materials, but I prefer to make it of wood, and which is comparatively stiff, being made of a bladelike strip that is broad enough to withstand transverse pressure, but at the same time thin enough to permit its insertion into the mortar under bed of the floor, and to facilitate such insertion I prefer to make the bottom edge pointed or tapered, as at 11. Projecting from the edge opposite the pointed edge 11 is a thin strip 12, preferably of nonrusting metal, the strip 12 bein held to the strip 10 by suitable means, t e preferred way of making them being to place the strip 12 in a groove in the edge of the wooden strip, so that no other fastening means are required. It is usual to have the major portion of the strip 12 projecting so that but a small art of its surface is used for fastening it in (place. In order to prevent the tapered en 11 acting to force the strip upward when the mortar under bed is drying or setting, I prefer to chamfer the top edges of the strip 10, as at 13.

When la ing a floor the structure is usually provic ed beforehand with the concrete foundation 14, and in Fig. 3 I show a structure in which the mortar under bed 15 is placed on the foundation and the workmen, after the under bed 15 is laid, insert the dividing strips, forcin the strip 10 down into the mortar under ed, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the top edge of the strip 12 defines the level 0 the top of the finished floor. The wearing surface or top surface 16 is laid after the under bed 15 has set, and the whole floor can be laid without waiting for any one portion of it to set before the other portion is commenced,

In Fig. 1 I show the strips in position to define a conventional form of floor, the

panels 17 and the border 18 bei ada ted to be laid at the same time w en t ese dividing strips are not used, As previously made, it was necessary to take the separated panels such as a, b and c, and define them y strips of wood or otherwise, lay them and a1 ow them to d and become thoroughly set, and when t is had been done to remove the e e strips and lay other sections, and in this way the floor was finished onl after the laying of alternate sections ha been completed, this taking up a great deal of time and being expensive on this account, and also due to the loss of time incidental to the non-use of the floor, which is particularly inconvenient in public places, both in new structures and also on the relayin of floors.

In ig. 4 I show a cross-section of flooring in which a la er of sand 19 is placed between the foun ation 14 and the under bed 15, this layer of sand very often bein used where undue cracking is anticipate and if the foundation 14 cracks, the crack does not penetrate throu h the sand to the under bed 15. The un er bed 15 in this case is shown much thicker than the one in Fig. 3, and, if desired, the stri 10 can be made much lon r, as is well il ustrated in Fig. 4, to exten from the top to the bottom of the under bed. The partition stri extending from near the concrete foun ation to the top or wearing surface of the floor rovides a place where cracking in the floor is very apt to localize, and the cracking, simply being a separation adjacent to the strip, is easil filled and does not mar the ap arance o the floor.

his is a big improvement over the situation where the division between the anels was only in the wearing surface an was indicated by a shallow groove on the top face of the floor.

I claim:

1. A device for use in laying terrazzo and similar fiooring com rising a comparatively stifi' strip of materia the bottom edge of the strip being formed so as to be able to penetratewet concrete under bed, and a thin to extension strip secured to one edge of sai first mentioned strip.

2. A'device for use in laying terrazzo and similar flooring comprising a blade-like wooden base strip and a thin metal strip projecting from one ed e of the base strip, the major portion of t e metal strip projectinlg.

3. device for use in laying terrazzo and similar flooring comprising a base strip with a pointed edge, and a thin strip projecting from the opposite edge of said base strip.

4. A device for use' in laying terrazzo and similar flooring comprising an imperforate blade-like stri stifl enon h to permit it to be seated in t e underbef of a wet plastic flooring and high enough to project therefrom to establish a design for the top surface.

5. The improved method for laying terrazzo flooring which consists in laying the underbed, the provision of a thin strip forcing such stri vertically in the underbed while the un erbed is still wet, said strip projecting from the top surface of said underbed with its top edge establishing approximately the level of the top surface, permitting said underbed to set, and then ap lying the top surface.

11 testimony that I claim the fore oing, I have hereto set my hand, this 9th (fly of September, 1919.-

LOUIS DEL TURCO. 

